Dance classes in London -- the best toe-tapping tuition in the capital

Here's a list of where to take part in the rich variety of dance classes available in the capital.

Hukilau Hula

Imagine you’re on sunny Pacific shores and learn to do the Hukilau like a true Malihini with Hula Boogie’s Miss Aloha. Lessons are at the start of Hula Boogie Sunday, held on the third Sunday of every month. Learn the moves to this popular1950s dance style then strut your stuff on a night out on the tiles.

Blues revolution

Experience the music, dance and social spirit of a style once confined to backwater honkytonks in America’s Deep South. As much about hanging out as it is about having fun, this regular event starts with a one-hour class – suitable for beginners. Then drink, chill-out or cut some serious shapes on the dancefloor to music courtesy of DJs and bands. Entrenched in African principles of movement, blues dancing is all about the motion of the hips and dancing within a boundary. It’s also an expression of emotions. But you’ll leave this place feeling happy.

Swing dancing

No longer the preserve of a bygone era, styles such as the Lindy Hop and Charleston have gained a new following in the modern age. See what all the fuss is about at this weekly social dancing class, which revives styles from the 1920s through to the 1940s. Just swing by, you don’t need experience or a partner.

Erotica

This class will teach you to emulate the sassy r’n’b moves of Rihanna in six weeks. You never need an excuse to learn how to dance like a foxy minx, although you might need to find someone to practice on.

Cheerleading

Any class where that lets you swoosh a pom-pom thorugh the air has got to be worth a look. At this school, which is dedicated to the discipline of cheerleading, all elements are covered – cheers, chants, dance, kicks and jumps, plus basic stunting. Sociable, glamorous and fun, it will keep you fit, even if you do end up collapsing in a fit of giggles with your mates.

Classical ballet

If this, the most elegant and fluid of dance styles, passed you by as a kid, this is your chance to give it a shot. Don’t be concerned if you have the grace of an elephant, the class is for beginners. Pineapple’s groups are classically-based and start at the ‘barre’, which will support your body as you flit back and forth and practice your ‘turn out’, which is that awkward outward rotation of the leg. Apparently, it helps with your balance. Only one way to find out.

Rumba party

Ballroom dancing is a fabulous pastime, just ask Karen Hardy, who shimmied her way to a Strictly Come Dancing winners’ trophy in 2006. Set in her own salubrious studios, Hardy’s Practice Party Rumba class offers a bit little extra. You get a glass of bubbly on arrival and a 15-minute master- class where you’ll learn the basics before heading to the dancefloor.

I Love Eighties

There are many things from the Eighties many of us would be happy to forget: cotton dungarees, shoulder pads, and highly flammable bouffant hairstyles. But the music – Fame, Footloose, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – are too good to keep locked away. Relive those awkward disco moments all over again, this time learning the famous moves and routines from the songs and films. Leggings, legwarmers, pumps and highly flammable bouffant hairstyles essential.

Serious about street dance 2012

The elite of the UK dance scene gather under one roof for an explosive evening of live performances from groups such as Flawless, Alliance Collective and Magical Bones. Thrilling for spectators, the event will also stage the finals of a 5 v 5 street-dance crew battle. With 21 acts confirmed, this event promises to be electric.

Belly bolly dance

It’s belly dancing, but not as you know it. The Arabic dance form gets a Bollywood makeover, which requires you to isolate body parts, as in belly dancing, but loosen your muscles, as in Bollywood. We wish you luck.

Contact improvisation

If nothing else, it makes for unusual dinner party conversation. This movement involves two bodies moving together, with emphasis on the flow of kinesthetic energy. Sometimes wild, other times meditative. It’s worth a go.

Shim Sham Tap Jam

Named after the Shim Sham Shimmy, a dance created by legendary twinkle toes Leonard Reed in the 1920s, this weekly rhythm tap class will help you find your own groove. You’ll also draw inspiration from past masters, Bojangles, the Nicholas Brothers and Steve Condos who grooved to a slightly different beat.

Locking and Popping

It might sound like something you do to your jaw, but this is one of the original funk styles of dance which came out of California in the 1960s and 1970s. Popping is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the body, referred to as a pop or a hit. For example, if you’ve ever done the ‘robot’ on the dancefloor before, you’ve ‘popped’. This class incorporates ‘tutting’ (interpretive dance), ‘boogaloo’ (Latin dance), ‘waving’ (doing the motion of a wave) and moon-walking, so it’s an all-round street-dance class. Learn it all in six weeks.